Awake
by Linwe Elendil
Summary: The Queen is dead, but what does that mean for the others? Songfic set to Awake by Josh Groban.


**Disclaimer:** Okay, so I don't even know who owns the rights to The 10th Kingdom. I hate to say it, but I only just watched it for the first time…

This is a songfic, set to "Awake," by Josh Groban (hence the title). This is my first 10th Kingdom fanfic, so please take a second and let me know what you think!

* * *

_**A beautiful and blinding morning**_

_**The world outside begins to breathe**_

_**See clouds arriving without warning**_

_**I need you here to shelter me**_

A green leaf drifted slowly from a tree outside the window as Virginia slept. Wolf heard it fall; and felt himself falling with it.

* * *

After the defeat of the Evil Queen, Wolf had been there at Virginia's side. He was confused why she wept over the vanquished enemy. Hadn't the Queen just tried to kill her? Not to mention all the royalty at the coronation! Why then was his one true love sobbing over her mother's still body? Wolf gently placed a hand on Virginia's shoulder, startling her. She looked into his eyes – her own were bloodshot with grief and exhaustion. Despite how close they had become, he could not understand what she was feeling. But he would be there to catch her. 

_**And I know that only time will tell us how**_

_**To carry on without each other**_

Anthony pushed his way through the crowd that had gathered around his daughter. "Get out of the way!" he yelled. "Haven't you all got better things to do?" He gestured around the hall, desperate for something to distract the masses of royalty. "Aren't you at all curious how come your king turned out to be a _dog_?" They stared at him blankly and he rolled his eyes. "Plus there's the whole 'sleeping potion' thing. I mean, what's that about?" A pointed look at Wendell prompted the crowd to turn to the Prince and pepper him with questions. The future king looked at them all in a slight panic and called the Royal Guards to escort everyone to their carriages. It had been a long day, after all.

"I'll let you all know the results of my thorough investigation just as soon as it has been… uh, thoroughly completed," he said, nodding at the departing guests.

Anthony waited impatiently as the crowd thinned. Finally he could reach Virginia. She had gone quiet, and that worried him more than her tears. "Honey?" He tentatively reached for her hand that was clutched on the Queen's velvet robes. It was cold.

"Virginia, look at me. Please." But she didn't seem to hear him.

_**So keep me awake to memorize you**_

_**Give me more time to feel this way**_

_**We can't stay like this forever**_

_**But I can have you next to me today**_

After all the years of waiting; looking around every corner, jumping every time someone came to the door… it was over. Her mother lay before her; dead. And what was worse, she had killed the woman that she had so wanted to see. Her mother was dead by her hand. Not even the sight of her father kneeling beside her or Wolf's gentle touch could make it alright. Virginia looked down sadly at the mother she never knew, and found only a stranger's face.

_**If I could make these moments endless**_

_**If I could stop the winds of change**_

_**If we just keep our eyes wide open**_

_**Then everything would stay the same**_

"Virginia, we can't stay here." It was Wolf. He was tugging on her elbow so insistently that she sat up. Her eyes never left her mother's face.

"What will happen to her… body?" Her voice broke, and she swallowed more tears.

"She shall lie in state. Uh, in the dungeons for now," a quiet voice said from behind her. "I still don't trust her."

"Thank you, Prince," Anthony replied, and Virginia nodded her gratitude. As the royal guards took up the body, Virginia kissed her mother's hand.

_**And I know that only time will tell me how**_

_**We'll carry on without each other**_

The Prince had offered them all guest quarters in the castle, and had sent for a doctor to attend to Anthony. Once he had been whisked away, complaining loudly that he was fine, Virginia was left alone with Wolf. She stared at the floor in front of her, almost able to see her mother's face.

"Come on," Wolf said gently, "You need to rest."

He helped her to stand, but Virginia felt her knees buckle, and soon found herself in Wolf's strong arms. She blinked and looked groggily into his bright eyes.

"You caught me."

"Always," he whispered as he nuzzled her cheek. Feeling safer than she had in days, Virginia buried her head in his chest and drifted into a dreamless sleep.

_**So keep me awake for every moment**_

_**Give us more time to be this way**_

_**We can't stay like this forever**_

_**But I can have you next to me today**_

As Wolf kept his lonely vigil by her bedside for two days, he found he had little to do. He brushed the hair from her forehead so much that it began to stand on end, and he had to spend a few minutes flattening it back down, only to start the process all over again. He sat on the bed with her, laid on the bed with her, sat in a chair – holding her hand – and paced the room exactly 813 times. The animal part of him wanted to be out running in the wild, but not even his wolf side could leave his mate. They would be together for the rest of their lives, if only she would wake up!

Anthony had been to visit – and despite his incessant and accusing questions about who had changed Virginia into the flowing white nightgown – Wolf thought he would be an acceptable father-in-law. He sniffed the air around him suddenly in surprise, moving closer to Virginia.

"He may be okay for a father-in-law," he mumbled with a smile, "but I wonder what kind of grandfather he'll make?"

_**We'll let tomorrow wait, you're here, right now, with me**_

_**All my fears just fall away, when you are all I see**_

"Dad, I have to!" Virginia's cry could be heard over the masses preparing the celebratory dinner; causing some to turn their heads. She lowered her voice and continued, "I have to have a chance to say goodbye."

Anthony shook his head in exasperation. "No, Virginia. You just slept for _two days_ because of your mother's death. If you think I'm gonna to let you –"

"Dad," she broke in, "I think I'm too old for you to 'let me' do anything." She smiled as he floundered for a response. Finding none, he kissed her on the forehead.

"If I don't see you in 20 minutes, I'll send someone down there after you."

Knowing he was serious, and may in reality only give her 15 minutes, she nodded. "Deal. Now go in there and eat something. They're all wondering where you are anyway." Her father raised his eyebrows.

"And don't think I don't know you haven't eaten anything since you woke up! I may not fully approve of Wolf, but I think he may just be as concerned about you as I am. He's been going on all day about how you're wasting away." Virginia rolled her eyes and he continued, "You just make sure you get back here quick and get something before he's eaten it all."

She smiled and kissed him on the cheek. "I will, I promise."

_**We can't stay like this forever**_

_**But I have you here today**_

As the withered flower bloomed to life, Virginia knew she had her answer. _A flower only grows where there is a seed_, Wolf had told her. There was love in her mother's heart after all. She gasped as she felt that same love melt her own heart, and tears of joy began to spill down her face.

Now… everything could begin.

_**And I will remember**_

_**Oh I will remember**_

_**Remember all the love we shared today**_

They lay together in her old apartment, Virginia's head pillowed on her husband's shoulder. Virginia felt the life growing inside of her, and wondered for the first time what this child would become. She pictured a boy – somehow a mixture of Wolf and her father – and chuckled.

"What?" Wolf asked in his abrupt way, absently scratching a patch of hair just above his right temple.

"Nothing," Virginia answered, snuggling deeper into his arms. The future would take care of itself.

* * *

The end! 

How did I do?


End file.
